Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an information processing apparatus, a controlling method, and a computer-readable storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, in the medical field such as hospitals, paper medical records having a predetermined format have been used to record the condition and the treatment process of a patient. A paper medical record is constituted by four description areas abbreviated to SOAP. The character S represents the main complaints of a patient. The character O represents information obtained through physical examinations/tests. The character A represents a disease evaluation made by a doctor. The character P represents a treatment plan made on the basis of the above-described data. Among these description areas, the S area is mainly referred to by a doctor. The other areas other than the S area, in which test information and a prescription for medicine are described, are referred to when a medical practice is performed by a nurse or when paperwork is performed by a staff in Medical Professions Division.
Advantages of paper medical records are, for example, that it is easy to use because a doctor can fill out a medical record while looking at and listening to a patient, and that the handwriting reminds a doctor of a deep nuance of the description and a scene of diagnosis. However, a handwritten description about medical-treatment information which is to be shared among sections is difficult to read, and time and effort are required to check the description. For paper medical records, it has been pointed out that a storage area is required, that manpower is required for transcription which is not a meaningful task, or that it is difficult to perform a search using paper medical records. Therefore, a shift from paper medical records to electronic medical records has progressed.
The shift from paper medical records to electronic medical records achieves unified management and sharing of medical-treatment information. This eliminates time and effort for a traditional operation of writing medical-treatment information by hand multiple times, resulting in a reduction in transcription errors. A large amount of data can be easily searched for necessary medical-treatment information, and the problem of storage space for paper medical records can be reduced.
However, use of an electronic medical record involves operations based on a complicated specification. In limited consultation hours, a doctor may fail to communicate with a patient because the doctor concentrates on input operations, and the doctor may miss hearing important information. In addition, all of the input data is shaped, making it difficult for the handwriting or the like to remind a doctor of a scene of diagnosis.
Therefore, to combine the advantages of paper medical records and those of electronic medical records, various proposals about data input and data management of electronic medical records have been made. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-252607, a technique is described. In the technique, a medical record in which minute points are previously printed over the entire surface of a sheet is filled out; medical care record data including a description and its position coordinates is generated; and the generated electronic data is managed over a network. The technique proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-252607 achieves high operability, enables input of medical record information which is the same as that written by hand, and enables medical care information to be recorded and used on a time-series basis even among sections or among medical institutions. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-30257, a technique is proposed. In the technique, patient information handwritten on a data sheet is obtained by using an electronic pen; the obtained information is transmitted to a server; the server performs authentication to check if the patient is a patient who is to be nursed, on the basis of the written patient information; and the authentication result is transmitted to a staff.
However, in these techniques of the related art, all of the descriptions on a paper medium are converted into electronic forms. Therefore, a description from which memories are desirably evoked and a description that desirably remains as handwriting information fail to be checked.